Kok Sen Restaurant : awarded Bib Gourmand by Michelin for 2016 & 2017

Kok Sen Restaurant has been awarded the Bib Gourmand by Michelin for 2016 and 2017. It is an old-school Cantonese-style Cze Char that has been around for more than 37 years and is popular amongst the local, passing down from Kau Kee, the founder to Kok Sen, his son and now to the third generation. 

We were there on a Thursday for dinner and it was still early, there was no queue yet. We decided to go with their signature dishes like Big Prawn Horfun, Claypot Yong Tau Fu and Prawn Paste Chicken. 

Their most popular dish has to be their Big Prawn Horfun, starting from $16 for the smallest portion to $32 for a medium portion and $48 for the largest portion.  You could taste the distinctive wok flavor amidst those nicely charred rice noodles. The gravy was a bit too spicy for my dining companion as he has little tolerance towards spicy food. Those big prawns tasted relatively fresh and we liked it. The portion is good enough to be shared amongst 2 people. 

Though their Prawn Paste Chicken ($12 / $18 / $24) might not be as popular as the other dishes that we ordered, it was quite good though and easily one of the better Prawn Paste Chicken that We have tasted. I liked it enough to want to go back for it. They do not use chicken wings but different parts of the chicken for this dish. It was perfectly fried to crispiness with an intense prawn paste flavor. 

The Claypot Yong Tau Fu ($14 / $21 / $28) is also a recommended dish to order. It consists of assorted pieces of Yong Tau Fu like the beancurd skin, brinjal, chilli and all these came stuffed with fish and prawn paste. I enjoyed the homely taste but my dining companion did not like it as much.

The queue is usually quite long if you come during lunch or dinner and to avoid such a long waiting time, you might consider making a reservation. 

KOK SEN RESTAURANT
30 Keong Saik Road SINGAPORE 089137
Operating Hours: 12.00 to 2.00 pm / 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm (Closed on Alternate Mondays)

Keong Saik Bakery : a East-meets-West cafe

Yu Zhong, 29 and Soon, 29, both of them used to work at Baker & Cook prior to starting this bakery. All the bread and pastries are made in-house daily with no preservatives added. The bakery is located along Keong Saik Street and is directly opposite of the famous Kok Sen Restaurant. 

Sor Hei ($3.20) was recommended when I asked for a recommendation. Another recommended item is XO Lup Cheong ($2.40). I was also offered some sample of Sour Dough bread to try, but I was just too full to eat it right after dinner at Kok Sen Restaurant before walking over. I asked, "Do you have iced coffee?". And, I was served Kopi Susu with ice ($3.30). A pager was given after proceeding with the payment, the 2 buns were warmed up before serving it. 

Sor Hei, a black and white danish pastry is one of their signature items. It is named after the Cantonese name for a traditional ceremony held for the Ma Jie (妈姐), which is known as 梳起 in Chinese. Ma Jie, a group of women who worked as domestic helpers usually in expatriate or wealthy families, between the 1930s and 1970s in Singapore. They were easily identified by their plaited hair or hair bun and their distinctive black and white samfu outfit. This group of women had taken a vow never to marry. One of the former owners of the shop house that they occupy happened to be a Ma Jie. 

The chocolate chips that embedded in between those layers were nicely melted, giving it a chocolaty taste with a mild sweetness. Its texture is light with a buttery flavor, it was crispy on the outside and airy within. Charcoal powder is added to give the pastry the shade of black. It was warmed up before serving to me and it tasted particularly good. 

The XO Lup Cheong is an interesting creation, the slices of lup cheong and mozzarella cheese are served on french bread. We did not like this as much, somehow those lup cheong slices tasted a bit out of place but the bread was nice though. 

The Kopi Susu was served in a nostalgic metal cup with just enough ice cubes to chill it without diluting the taste. Their coffee is brewed using traditional coffee beans, the same type that is for the local coffee. It is freshly ground and is brewed using an espresso machine upon order. And, they are using milk instead of condensed milk for a robust yet familiar flavor. 

There is an All-Day-Breakfast set at $5 which consists of 2 soft-boiled eggs with Kopi coffee O or Teh O and a choice of the bun like Oyster Mushroom, Sardine Cheese, XO Lup Cheong, etc.

This is an interesting place to check out for their coffee and fusionised cakes as well as pastries.

KEONG SAIK BAKERY

41 Keong Saik Road SINGAPORE 089146

Operating Hours: 8.00 am to 8.00 pm (Daily)

Foong Kee Coffee Shop at Keong Saik : Wanton Mee & Roasted Meats

If you happen to be in Chinatown and looking to have lunch then perhaps you might want to take a little walk towards Keong Saik Street. When you walk further in, you would come across Foong Kee Coffee Shop, a rather unassuming coffee shop with only a roasted meats stall helmed by the self-taught chef Wong Wai Chew. If you are a big fan of roasted meat particularly the char siew, sio bak and roasted duck, this is where you should be. 

You will order at the stall then help yourself to those canned drinks in the fridge, there are cups for the ice cubes and you have to self-service too. The canned drink is priced at only $1.00 per can. You will then pay with your other orders when they deliver to the table.

Their Wanton Mee is one of my favourite. This is especially so after tasted some of the famous Wanton Mee in Katong and Joo Chiat area. What actually distinguish this Wanton Mee and the others is their Char siew. It was perfectly roasted to slightly charred the surface and the tender texture beneath, it has a slight chewiness coupled with a nice hint of a well-balanced sweetness. To start, tossed the springy noodles in the sauce consists of a combination of oyster sauce, soy sauce, pork lard oil and chilli. 

 Their wantons fared equally well too, it was meaty and plump with well-marinated filling wrapped in those sheets. 

They are also well-known for their Sio Bak and Roasted Duck. And to have the best of the both worlds, the order has to be a plate of Sio Bak and Roasted Duck Rice. I did not take notice of the price, if i remember correctly it should be $5. I enjoyed my Sio Bak a little better if it was chopped in those chunky pieces for better enjoyment. It got the perfect lean-to-fat-meat ratio and even layered, the skin was rather crispy and the meat though slightly saltish but with a desired tenderness. 

The Roasted Duck was their other signature, intensely flavored and succulent, it was just so good. 

This was a highly satisfactory lunch that left me feeling happy for the rest of the day.

FOONG KEE COFFEE SHOP

6 Keong Saik Road SINGAPORE 089114

Operating Hours: 11.00 am to 8.00 pm (Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays)